A.C. Women to Display Local Talent at Thursday’s Scrimmage

Angelina College’s Lady Roadrunner basketball team will offer a “dress rehearsal” in a home scrimmage on Thursday, and head coach Byron Coleman says it will be an opportunity for fans to get a glimpse of the 2017-2018 version of his team. There will be no admission charge for the scrimmage.

AC will host the SFA Club Team in a scrimmage at Shands Gymnasium. The Lady Roadrunners spent this past weekend at the Dave Neeley Shootout in Dallas, where the team scrimmaged Redlands (Okla.), Howard College and Murray State.

Coleman said he liked what he saw and is hoping to see more on Thursday. “We need to see what we did this weekend and just play hard,” Coleman said. “Then we’ll look at the execution of our offense. We’re not perfect right now, but we’re getting better, and Thursday’s scrimmage will give us some good work.”

Coleman’s current crew features just four sophomores, with only two of those – Charisma Shepherd and Angel Darcus – returning from last season. The freshmen will add some local flavor to the mix. Former Lufkin Panthers Natasha Mack and Diamond Johnson, along with former Diboll standout Mia Williams, already are making an impact.

The Lady Roadrunners in 2017-2018 will, as always, focus on defense – “We created turnovers on defense this past weekend, and any time you can do that, you can score some points,” Coleman said – but the rest of the team’s game shows plenty of potential as well, with a mix of scoring guards and post players to provide balance.

“Our low post game – we’ve got numbers in the post – and our athleticism is better overall,” Coleman said. “But if we just play hard, everything else will fall into place.”

Coleman added that at this point, the main thing he wants to see is consistent effort.

“Tomorrow’s a full dress rehearsal, and I want to see if our kids can maintain that intensity and effort every night,” Coleman said. “If they can, some good things are going to happen for us.”

Thursday’s scrimmage tips off at 6:30 p.m. at Shands Gymnasium. The Lady Roadrunners open the regular season on Nov. 1 at McLennan College in Waco.